


the call within

by tinypi



Series: allegiances have formed your destiny [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Temporary Character Death, destiny au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 10:02:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3406550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinypi/pseuds/tinypi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By choice or raised from the dead, they all become guardians in their own way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the call within

**Author's Note:**

> A prologue of sorts to the Destiny AU Beren and I have been working on recently.
> 
> If you'd like to know more about this verse, leave a comment or check [this helpful tumblr post](http://tinypi.tumblr.com/post/111673733270/allegiances-have-formed-your-destiny-for-a-good)!

“Hey, you.” A small stone hit the shell of the floating ghost. Swivelling around, its eye lit up in surprise as a tall exo lazily raised himself from his sprawl on the hood of a rusted-out car.

The ghost performed a quick scan, although the worn, scraped metal of the exo’s body told a story of its own.

“You are… very old,” it said carefully.

“Yeah, no shit, buddy,” the exo replied.

“Is there anything you needed?”

“You’re out searching, right?” Grey eyes intensely shone out through a visor and stared at the small ghost. “You’re looking for some poor soul to raise from the dead and drag into this war.”

“Most people would be grateful to receive a second chance at life.” The ghost was still, floating a few feet away from the exo. It couldn’t tell whether it was about to be attacked or not.

“But they remember their first chance, don’t they?” He asked quietly.

“Yes. Only exos that were damaged enough to be reforged into guardians do not retain their memories. Why?” The ghost became curious at this point. There were those people that were strictly against the guardian programme, feeling that raising the dead was an unnatural act, but the exo didn’t appear to be one of them.

“I was thinking…” He trailed off and shook his head. The exo turned around to look at the wall surrounding the city, the gigantic orb of the Traveller hanging above it, protecting the last safe place on earth. “Take me.”

“What?”

“Make me a guardian. However that works, I don’t care. Do it.” The exo stood still and determined, body radiating a strength that had previously been masked by his lazy slouch.

“I cannot-” the ghost started, but was interrupted by the exo stepping towards it and pointing an angry finger directly at his eye.

“Yes you fucking can. I’m tired of all this and I want to fucking do something about this world before it falls into pieces.”

“Why would you wish to give up your life to save this world?”

“Because I’m one of the idiots who lives in it!” the exo yelled out, throwing a hand behind him to gesture at the city. “I have seen so many, too many, people go and I’m fucking done just watching it happening!”

“It is… highly unusual, but,” the ghost performed another scan to assure itself that the initial one was correct, “you do possess the ability to wield the Traveller’s power.”

“Fucking great, do it then.”

“As you wish,” the ghost complied and the exo felt a weird surge of power that made his eyes and chest glow, parts of his body loosening and clicking together differently, resettling themselves to accommodate the Traveller’s power. When it was done, he was acutely aware of the stone ground under him, as if he had become rooted in himself in a new way.

“Congratulations,” the ghost said and the exo could hear the sound coming from the small shell in front of him as much as he could hear it in his head.

“What, that’s it?” The ghost seemed amused for the first time during their conversation, but didn’t comment on the question.

“We should make our way to the tower, guardian.”

“Sure. But call me Geoff.”

 

\----

 

A groan came from the large man as he sat up in the complete darkness of a cave, only the blue eye of the ghost floating in front of him illuminating the space they were in.

He took in his surroundings: weapons, armour and things he’d rather not inspect too closely were strewn throughout the cave, caked with dirt and dust and having long lost any function they might have previously had. Somewhere in the distance, the sounds of a stream could be heard and a memory of stumbling into cold water as he fended off an oncoming enemy flashed through his head.

“I was…” He looked up at the small ghost.

“Dead, yes. For a long time. I’m sorry,” the ghost admitted.

“Always figured I’d go out in a fight.” He looked at his hands, wiggling lively pink fingers in amazement. “Looks like I’ll get to do it again.”

“Are you alright, guardian?”

“Jack, please. And I will be.”

 

\----

 

“Hello, guardian.”

“Wha- where am I? What happened?” The exo stared at his fingers, his arms, and legs in confusion and shock. He felt the irrational need to take deep breaths before remembering that exos didn’t need to breathe.

“We are currently on Mercury. You were… offline and I had to reforge you for you to join the guardian programme,” the ghost floating next to him said.

“What do you mean, offline? What happened to me?!” He yelled at the ghost, desperate to figure out what was going on.

“I do not know. There was very few data I was able to salvage and none of it explains what must have transpired.”

“So you just- made me a guardian? Just like that? What about my life, I- there must have been something?” The exo whispered, staring at his own body parts once more, taking in the unfamiliar grey of his body, the large arms whose strength he was certain he must have tested at least once, but no matter how hard he tried to think on it, there was nothing.

The ghost moved in an approximation of a headshake. “I’m sorry.”

“What if I meant something to somebody?” He asked the ghost as much as himself.

“I’m sorry,” the ghost repeated. “I don’t know. There was nothing I could do.”

“You could have not done _this_ ,” the exo gestured at his own body. “You could have left me for somebody to find, somebody who had a fucking idea and would have been able to figure this out instead of just taking it all!”

The ghost remained silent as the exo stood on shaky legs, looking around himself in a desperate attempt to find something he remembered about this place. He walked about for a few minutes, the ghost following at a distance to give the exo time to pull himself together.

Eventually, the tall figure stopped his exploration of the surroundings and turned to wait for the ghost to fly up to him.

“I have detected a ship nearby. I cannot speak for its functionality, but we should try and make our way to earth,” it said haltingly.

The exo nodded slowly, only hesitating to look back at the spot he had woken up in.

“I don’t know how much it will help,” the ghost said, “but there was one thing I could find that you would probably like to know.”

“What is it?” The exo pressed out.

“Your name,” the ghost answered. “Ryan.”

 

\----

 

“Huh.” The exo sat up in one swift motion, nearly knocking into the ghost that had been floating directly above him.

“Are you alright?” It asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I just… can’t seem to remember anything.” He inspected his hands carefully, touching them to his torso and head.

“I’m afraid you were far too damaged for any memory units to retain their function.”

“...oh.”

The ghost remained by his side as he stood up, trying to orient himself, but drawing a complete blank. “Any idea where we are?”

“We are currently on Venus. I recommend finding a way to get back to earth.”

“To the guardians’ tower, right?” The exo inquired, lying his head askew as he looked at the ghost, which made an affirmative sound.

A few feet away from the spot he had woken up in, the exo found a sniper rifle. It was mostly empty, but still working and it must have been his once upon a time, so he slung it across his shoulder. Hidden underneath the rifle was a sharp knife, which he picked up to examine. One side of the blade had a few letters carved into it. He showed it to the ghost.

“As good a name as any, I suppose,” the exo said.

The ghost moved in a nodding motion as it read the lettering. “Ray.”

 

\----

 

“This… this looks really bad, I don’t know what to do,” the woman said as she pressed her hands onto the man’s torso, blood rapidly spilling from a wide gash and soaking both of their clothes.

“Hey,” he croaked, coughing out a few splatters of blood that stained his teeth and lips. “You’ll be okay, yeah?”

“But-” Tears formed in her eyes as she panickedly tried to remember any first aid lessons she had ever learned, but none of them covered an injury this bad. “No, no, no no no, don’t you dare leave me, you asshole!”

“You’ll be great,” he whispered, gifting her with one last smile before his eyes rolled back, head lolling to the side.

“NO!” She screamed, frantically shaking his shoulder and feeling for a pulse, but the only thing she achieved was to leave a red handprint on a pale neck. “NO NO NO! FUCK!”

She jumped up and kicked at the dead body of the thrall closest to her, screaming out her frustration and pain as she drew her hand cannon and emptied the clip into the dead creature’s head.

Just minutes before, an unusually large group of thrall had surrounded and overpowered them, allowing the thrall she was now kicking viciously to get in a lucky strike that had slashed open her companion’s chest. She’d taken the creature out immediately, but it had already been too late.

The woman threw her pistol onto the ground, shakily pushing strands of hair out of her face as she fought not to throw up.

In the distance she saw a small orb flying through the air at a fast pace and without a second thought, she took off running as fast as possible.

“YOU! GHOST!” After a two-minute sprint her desperate voice finally reached the small ghost and it swivelled around to stop and look at her as she nearly crashed to the floor in front of it due to her shaking limbs.

“You-” she coughed, “you want me to be a guardian, right? I’ve been asked before, I know you do.”

“Well,” the ghost’s eye lit up as it scanned her, “you certainly have great potential. Have you changed your mind?”

She shook her head. “Not really, no.” A wave from her hand halted any questions the ghost might’ve been about to ask. “But I’ll do it if you bring him back,” she pointed to the clearing some ways behind her.

The ghost flew alongside her as she jogged back to the site of the fight, frantically explaining about the thrall’s sudden and unusually smart ambush. Tears were still making their way down her cheeks, but she steadily ignored them as she sunk to her knees beside her companion, stroking back a few sweat-soaked curls that were clinging to his forehead.

“Please,” she looked up at the ghost, “I’ll be the best goddamn guardian I can possibly be, just,” her voice cracked, “bring him back to me.”

“I…,” the ghost hesitated, “I can bring him back, but only as a guardian that is bound to me. I cannot raise the dead without permanently binding them to the Traveller’s power.”

“Take us both, then. We’ll both be guardians. Please,” she begged, hands holding onto her companion’s arm desperately.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of two guardians sharing a ghost. You need to understand that the power you draw from the Traveller is harnessed through me. It will be much harder for the two of you to fight using that power if you have to share it,” the ghost explained.

She nodded in understanding. “We can do it. I know we can.” A fierce determination showed in her green eyes. “Now bring him back.”

Power tingled through her entire body from head to toes, her fingers feeling like they were lighting up, but she was only focused on the man in front of her.

The gash in his torso knit itself back together, colour returning to his face as he woke up with a sharp breath, eyes immediately focusing on the woman in front of him.

“What…” He took in the surrounding scene, his own eyes starting to become wet as he noticed the mix of distress and relief on her face. As he pushed himself up into a sitting position, he finally noticed the ghost that was floating next to her. “Lindsay, what did you do?”

With a strangled sob she hugged him close to her, burying her face in his dirtied mop of hair. “I got you back, Michael.”

 

\----

 

The young awoken sat up with a loud groan, his hand nearly knocking away the small ghost floating next to him as he flailed to support himself on the metal wall to the left of him.

“Hello, guardian.”

“Aaargh, my head’s bloody killing me. Did I get knocked out?” He asked, pressing his eyes closed as he tentatively massaged his temple with one hand, before he suddenly looked up and stared at the ghost. “Who’re you? _What_ are you?”

“I’m a ghost.” The small shell’s eye lit up in amusement. “Yours to be exact.”

“Oh, you’re one of those robots that find guar- wait, did you call me a guardian?” His eyes widened in disbelief. “Do you mean you want me to be a guardian?”

The ghost appeared to take a moment to assess the situation, then moved in a nodding motion. “Yes. You were… knocked out during the fight with the other awoken, but you have great potential.”

“Well then,” the awoken grinned at the ghost as he carefully stood up, “I gladly accept the offer.”

“Let’s get you out of this place then, guardian.” The ghost looked around the endless, cold metal expanse of the reef and drew closer to the awoken.

"Yes, please. Oh, and just call me Gavin.”

 

 


End file.
